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First Center
The First Center (ファーストセンター) is a Japanese 6×9cm folding camera, sold by First Camera Works or Minagawa Shōten from 1936 or 1937 to the early 1940s. It was certainly made by Kuribayashi, as the rest of the First range. Baird; , p.577. No original document has been found to confirm this. Description of the body The First Center is a vertical folding camera taking both 6×9 and 4.5×6 exposures. It is self erecting and has folding struts inspired from the Balda products. It appears to be a close copy of the Balda Gloria, Glorina or Pontina 6×9 folder. The name FIRST-CENTER is embossed in the front leather. There is a folding optical finder and a brilliant finder attached to the lens standard. The focal length is always 105mm. The advance knob is at the bottom right, as seen by a photographer holding the camera horizontally. The back is hinged to the left and the back latch is covered by a leather handle. There are two red windows near the top of the back. Evolution, lens and shutter equipment The First Center was first announced in the new products column of the January 1937 issue of , but some sources say that it was released in 1936. The 1936 release date is given by Baird, pp.19 and 94–5, , item 1047 and , p.577. The column in January 1937 is the earliest document listed in , p.340. The April 1937 advertisement in Camera Club offers the camera with a Toko lens by Tōkyō Kōgaku and a Magna shutter by Seikōsha, in two versions with f/6.3 and f/4.5 maximal aperture respectively costing and . Advertisement reproduced in , p.88. The August 1937 advertisement in shows the following range: Advertisement reproduced in , p.87. The Rulex shutter name is not explicitly mentioned but it appears in the pictures. * State f/4.5 lens by Tōkyō Kōgaku, Magna shutter ( ); * First f/4.5 lens, Rulex B shutter ( ); * First f/4.5 lens, Rulex A shutter ( ). The First Center still appears in the official list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941, in two versions called "First Center I" (¥56) and "First Center II" (¥103) with no further detail. , type 6, sections 2 and 4. Few surviving examples of the First Center are found today. The following combinations have been observed so far: * State f/4.5 lens, Seikosha shutter (T, B, 1–250); Example pictured in , item 1047, Baird, p.94, , p.577. * State f/4.5 lens, Magna shutter (25–100, B, T); Example pictured in Tanaka, p.76 of no.8 (with an accessory shoe, probably not original), and example observed in an online auction. * f/4.5 lens by Tōkyō Kōgaku (certainly a State), Rulex A shutter (1–200, B, T). Example observed in an online auction. The State lens is engraved State 1:4,5 f=10,5cm Tokyo Kogaku Nr.xxxxx and has the Tōkyō Kōgaku logo. Notes Bibliography * Item 208. (See also the advertisements for items 211.) * Pp.19 and 94–5. * Type 6, sections 2 and 4. * P.50 (brief mention only). * P.577. * Items 1047. * Tanaka Masao (田中政雄). "Sonota no nihon no supuringu-kamera" (その他の日本のスプリングカメラ, "Other Japanese folding cameras"). Pp.76–80. Category: Japanese 6x9 viewfinder folding Category: Kuribayashi Category: F Category: 1936